The world into which Pope Leo XIV was being formed was not one of calm certainty. After the Second Vatican Council the Church saw waves of change—many welcomed, others deeply disorienting. The years of his formation were marked by dramatic tension: religious orders struggling with declining vocations, formation houses beset by novelty, doctrinal confusion, and in some cases, revelations of abuse. ¹ These were not abstract issues; they shaped the lived reality of every aspirant, every brother, every priest.

When Prevost became Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine in 2001, he inherited more than governance. He inherited crisis, expectation, suspicion. His term (2001-2013) lay across some of the Church’s most scrutinized decades. ² Vocations were dropping. In 2023, for example, 87 percent of religious superiors in the U.S. reported that their institutes had no members professing perpetual vows—up from 82 percent the year before. ³ Consecrated religious and seminarians continued to decline broadly, even while the laity worried about preserving the faith’s integrity. ⁴

Formation houses often became battlegrounds for competing visions of religious life. Some embraced liturgical and theological novelties without sufficient grounding. Others felt that moral standards were being relativized. In some houses, there was confusion about authority and obedience. Some religious departed their vocations altogether because what they encountered in formation did not align with what they believed they were called to. These departures were painful, both for those who left and for those who remained.

At the same time abuse scandals—sexual, spiritual, emotional—cast long shadows. The Church’s credibility was deeply injured. The faithful demanded accountability, transparency, reform. Orders and dioceses alike were called upon to examine their formation programs, to ensure they were not places where error or permissiveness had taken root.

In that troubling soil, Prevost’s leadership in the Augustinian Order was put to the test. Did his order escape these trials? Not entirely. Public reporting has identified instances during his leadership as provincial and as prior general in which disciplinary decisions were questioned, including the housing of a priest accused of abuse under supervision, and the tension between canonical law, pastoral care, and public trust.⁵ Yet there are also reports of his insistence on fidelity to the Rule, on restoring clarity in formation, on accelerating reforms in oversight and discipline within the Order. These efforts were not always visible; some lay and religious saw them as too slow. But they were present.

What seems clear is that Prevost’s education, dissertation, and Augustinian formation did not shelter him from crisis. Rather they gave him tools—to perceive dissonance, to insist on truth, to believe that religious orders are called not to dominance or comfort but to holiness, clarity, and renewal. These years of upheaval refined more than they broke.

As friends on this journey, we might ask together: In what ways do current religious vocations still carry the marks of this past turmoil? How might Pope Leo XIV’s early experiences shape how he responds to dissent, error, and scandal in his own pontificate? And perhaps most importantly, how do we, alongside him, learn to live as disciples regaining trust that was broken by human failure in the Church – trust between laity and clergy, between novices and superiors, and between the faithful and the institution meant to guard them -while never losing sight of Christ, who is the originator and interpreter of truth?

The jury is still out on the judgment of this papacy. These questions remain open but asking them in faith allows us to keep watch together, with hope anchored in Christ.

Close to generation of Pope Leo, grew up under those things & problems. No one can say that the church going in the right direction

How to correct the ship’s direction, the barque of Peter?

An analogy:

Immediately stop, knocks chairs, people, things on board around or

Allow ship turn to left which will eventually come out. We see further left, until pass degree when left becomes right, and see prudence of Leo. This is a fair hope.

Notes

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